You want to impress me, then either use a knife/spear, do some handstands etc., or show the guy hitting your elbow or at least the hip. (where they had to use soft, flexible stuff, rather than hard plastics)

tarkin1:Effective demonstration of being able to take a blunt attack. BUT:

1) Did not see any slashing or piercing attacks.

2) Did not see any real gymnastics performed in video.

3) Did not see any attacks aimed at the joints.

Conclusion:

Not particularly better than standard body armor.

You want to impress me, then either use a knife/spear, do some handstands etc., or show the guy hitting your elbow or at least the hip. (where they had to use soft, flexible stuff, rather than hard plastics)

there's carbon nanofiber fabrics that can do that. and stop bullets. but they're really expensive. REALLY expensive. but nothing a Bruce Wayne couldn't buy or even develop himself.

One of the reasons that police and military don't wear full combat armour NOW, is that it slows you down. This tech has been out for years. I don't want to wear something that's going to impedes my vision or hearing. I don't want something that's hot, cold, or cumbersome. And to make it bullet resistant, you'd have to add weight.

Sure, it's nice to look at, but there isn't a practical use outside of riot control.

If I were looking for a 'real' batsuit, I go to the people who make actual combat equipment for the military, not "...a LOTR and Hobbit armor specialist".

I wouldn't. The military is only interested in acquiring inexpensive, mass producible armor that will protect a soldier's vital areas 90% of the time and little else. It's not going to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to create fully articulate suites of armor that would have to be tailor fit to each individual solder.

If I were looking for a 'real' batsuit, I go to the people who make actual combat equipment for the military, not "...a LOTR and Hobbit armor specialist".

I *do* make actual combat equipment for the military. This thing is just a combat training suit for the crowd that's made it out of their mom's basement and into the local mall dojo. Military/police training is mostly done in Red Suits, and I'm guessing that will continue as those are relatively inexpensive and a lot more forgiving on the fit. This kit looks like it's pretty substantially customized to the user.

There is constantly work going on to make combat armor that is more anatomically shaped, lighter, more effective and more mobile. The technical challenge is splitting armor along the functional bits of the human body so as to allow movement. Given how those junctions also often contain some super delicate anatomy, it's a difficult problem to solve - notice how this suit totally forgoes even attempting to protect the proximal medial thigh area (i.e. left and right of his nut sack). Not only does an injury here impair mobility severely, it also leaves the femoral artery vulnerable (a common combat injury).

If anyone remembers from a few years back, when parents were literally buying their sons "better" body armor when they deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan, there was a hubbub about something called Dragon Skin armor. It was basically a bunch of hexagon shaped ceramic disks held together in an overlapping mesh and the Army ordered it all off the battlefield, causing a minor outrage. Turns out, while the Dragon Skin marketing material was fantastically effective, what they didn't tell you was that once an area was hit (thus busting the ceramic hexagon bits in that area), a full quarter of the face of Dragon Skin became as effective as a sheet of paper for the *next* round/shrapnel behind it.

Both large and small outfits have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into building better armor. These guys aren't it.

If I were looking for a 'real' batsuit, I go to the people who make actual combat equipment for the military, not "...a LOTR and Hobbit armor specialist".

I wouldn't. The military is only interested in acquiring inexpensive, mass producible armor that will protect a soldier's vital areas 90% of the time and little else. It's not going to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to create fully articulate suites of armor that would have to be tailor fit to each individual solder.

You're not wrong, but at least the people that make those know more about actual armor than the props and costumes department at MGM.

This armor's a few hundred years late. "Our armor allows for mobility!" Yeah, so does literally every other kind of useful armor ever made. You can do acrobatics in plate mail - if your range of movement was restricted, then there would be no reason to wear it in the first place

I think people are mistaking the purpose of this armor. Despite the io9 headline, this stuff is about creating better pads for full combat martial arts. The idea is to create a protective garment that will allow people to smack each other with staffs, batons, full strength kicks, etc.

In other words, this is better SPORT gear, not intended for military or police (or batman) purposes. It's not for beating up thugs, it's for beating up your buddy with a waster using full strength blows and not breaking him or her.

And from THAT perspective, it also looks like it has a few problems.-The gorget piece looks like it's not high enough to protect the throat from a shot glancing up from the chest. Though I can't tell if the helmet locks into the breast plate, if it does then that would solve the issue.-It looks like they haven't solved the issue with the pauldrons restricting you from lifting your arms above your shoulders.-Big gap between the pauldron and the breastplate-There is no protection for the front of the hips, and let me personally assure you that it SUCKS to take a shot in the hip flexors. Get some Cuisses or at least tassets.-The leg armor is supported by a pretty skinny looking waist belt, I bet that'll dig in like a mofo. You want a nice wide belt to support the weight on your hips. Or, even better, have it secure to the torso piece and support the weight with your shoulders.-All those cool looking ridges and armor sections on the breastplate have got to go. You want blows to glance off, not stick in a crack.

It does look a lot more flexible and comfortable than a steel kit, I'll give them full credit for that. And most of the problems I listed above also existed in the armor I wore. And it certainly looks like it'll be more pleasant to ride a horse wearing that stuff (with the possible exception of the cup, that might suck a lot on a saddle).

I like what the Thai boxer said. Something like "I can hit him as hard as I like and I don`t have to worry about him. It`s also nice to have something firm to kick against. Good for the knuckles. Very nice."

Running a-puck:I think people are mistaking the purpose of this armor. Despite the io9 headline, this stuff is about creating better pads for full combat martial arts. The idea is to create a protective garment that will allow people to smack each other with staffs, batons, full strength kicks, etc.

In other words, this is better SPORT gear, not intended for military or police (or batman) purposes. It's not for beating up thugs, it's for beating up your buddy with a waster using full strength blows and not breaking him or her.

And from THAT perspective, it also looks like it has a few problems.-The gorget piece looks like it's not high enough to protect the throat from a shot glancing up from the chest. Though I can't tell if the helmet locks into the breast plate, if it does then that would solve the issue.-It looks like they haven't solved the issue with the pauldrons restricting you from lifting your arms above your shoulders.-Big gap between the pauldron and the breastplate-There is no protection for the front of the hips, and let me personally assure you that it SUCKS to take a shot in the hip flexors. Get some Cuisses or at least tassets.-The leg armor is supported by a pretty skinny looking waist belt, I bet that'll dig in like a mofo. You want a nice wide belt to support the weight on your hips. Or, even better, have it secure to the torso piece and support the weight with your shoulders.-All those cool looking ridges and armor sections on the breastplate have got to go. You want blows to glance off, not stick in a crack.

It does look a lot more flexible and comfortable than a steel kit, I'll give them full credit for that. And most of the problems I listed above also existed in the armor I wore. And it certainly looks like it'll be more pleasant to ride a horse wearing that stuff (with the possible exception of the cup, that might suck a lot on a saddle).

I'm still waiting on them to develop something like this for American murderball, i.e. football

Yeah came in to say that. First, could they have found a THINNER stick to use? Second, with that thin stick, why not gouge at all that exposed leg/hip? Third, remarkable that with the batcowl in place the guy BARELY MOVES, and when he actually has to move a bit for the second video, the mask/helmet has to come off.

Running a-puck:I think people are mistaking the purpose of this armor. Despite the io9 headline, this stuff is about creating better pads for full combat martial arts. The idea is to create a protective garment that will allow people to smack each other with staffs, batons, full strength kicks, etc.

In other words, this is better SPORT gear, not intended for military or police (or batman) purposes. It's not for beating up thugs, it's for beating up your buddy with a waster using full strength blows and not breaking him or her.

And from THAT perspective, it also looks like it has a few problems.-The gorget piece looks like it's not high enough to protect the throat from a shot glancing up from the chest. Though I can't tell if the helmet locks into the breast plate, if it does then that would solve the issue.-It looks like they haven't solved the issue with the pauldrons restricting you from lifting your arms above your shoulders.-Big gap between the pauldron and the breastplate-There is no protection for the front of the hips, and let me personally assure you that it SUCKS to take a shot in the hip flexors. Get some Cuisses or at least tassets.-The leg armor is supported by a pretty skinny looking waist belt, I bet that'll dig in like a mofo. You want a nice wide belt to support the weight on your hips. Or, even better, have it secure to the torso piece and support the weight with your shoulders.-All those cool looking ridges and armor sections on the breastplate have got to go. You want blows to glance off, not stick in a crack.

It does look a lot more flexible and comfortable than a steel kit, I'll give them full credit for that. And most of the problems I listed above also existed in the armor I wore. And it certainly looks like it'll be more pleasant to ride a horse wearing that stuff (with the possible exception of the cup, that might suck a lot on a saddle).

All of this is true. I created about half of my armor when heavy fighting in the SCA. There was a lot of trial and error (error meaning armor bite and bruises). The thing that popped for me was there is little to no butt protection. I remember getting hit their by a little women who had the whippiest shot. She was fast and really strong I don't think I even knew what happened, I just yelled good and laid on the ground for a while I could barely sit down (and I had a 5 hour drive back home to Phoenix).

My main kvetch is that they're just standing there hitting each other. Unless they make it against the rules of the sport, the intelligent thing to do is to try to enter on a parry or strike and take the other guy to the ground, Fiore-style. Doubly so if you're wearing armor.